Saeed Reza Hossinzadeh*, Ali Ganjeali Azam Salami and Rahele ahmadpour
Available water is an important factor for plant growth in arid environments. Foliar application of methanol are believed to be more important in drought tolerance. In order to evaluate the effects of foliar application of methanol on some morphological characteristics of chickpea under drought stress, an factorial experiment was conducted factorial based on completely randomized design with three replications in 2011 at the Recearch Center for Sciences of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The first factor was different levels of methanol including, 0 (control), 20, 25, 30, 35 volumetric percentage (v/v), which were used as foliar applications at three times during growth season of chickpea, with 10 days intervals. Second factor was moisture regimes in two levels, 25 and 100 percent of field capacity. Results showed that there was significant difference (P £ 0.01) between methanol levels concentrations regarding to plant height, root dry weight, tap root length, root area, root area to leaf area ratio, total root length, leaf area, root to shoot ratio, number of lateral root, root volume and root fresh weight. Spraying with 25% volume level significantly increased in plant height, number of lateral root, root dry weight, tap root length, root area, root area to leaf area ratio, total root length, root to shoot ratio and leaf area compared with control. Results indicated that interactions between drought and methanol was significant differences (P £ 0.05) in traits such as, root to shoot ratio, leaf area and total root length.
